The invention relates to moving a floatable body that has been stranded on land as a result of a natural disaster, of accidental running aground, or has been deliberately run aground for the purpose of loading and unloading goods, or of landing armed forces or heavy equipment etc.
It is well known that hurricanes, tsunami and similar natural disasters often carry heavy objects, including boats, barges, and small ships onto the dry land. In some cases, the recently floating vessels are stranded several hundred yards from water. Every stranded vessel requires emergency assistance in order to remove the ship from a place of danger, to reduce stress in the hull and to decrease the risk of pollution.
The refloating operations are expensive and time consuming. Stabilizing measures to prevent further damage and keep the ship from being driven harder aground or broaching can be performed soon after the vessel becomes grounded but these measures will not refloat the vessel. Once the vessel is stabilized it must be moved back into the water. Conventional refloating techniques involve the use pulling tugboats to pull the vessel to the water. This technique may suitable if the boat ran aground on a sandbank not far from the water's edge.
However, in the case of a large vessel or rocky terrain, the tug boats may not be used since the pulling action can damage the hull. In some cases, special trolleys are constructed adjacent the grounded vessel. Enormous cranes are used to literally lift the vessel onto a trolley. The trolley is then moved closer to the water's edge and the vessel is unloaded into the water, provided that the hull is still floatable. If any repairs are needed they are performed while the hull remains exposed. Regardless of the technique, the cost of refloating a vessel remains high.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with conventional methods of refloating grounded vessels and provision of an improved system of moving the grounded vessel back into the water using inflatable rollers placed under the hull of the vessel.